So, a couple of big stories were published over the weekend, with regard to the ongoing problem of the sitting president being a traitorous fuck.

On Friday night, the New York Times dropped an item about the FBI having launched an investigation into the possibility of Trump being a Russian asset after he fired James Comey. As I noted on Twitter: "The only shock is that it wasn't until then that their investigation began."

"It's unprecedented to investigate the president for being the agent of a foreign adversary!"

Yesterday, the Washington Post reported that Trump "has gone to extraordinary lengths to conceal details of his conversations with Russian President Vladi­mir Putin, including on at least one occasion taking possession of the notes of his own interpreter and instructing the linguist not to discuss what had transpired with other administration officials, current and former U.S. officials said."

This has reportedly prompted lawyers for the House Intelligence and Foreign Affairs committees to schedule a meeting today "to evaluate their legal options for subpoenaing the interpreters who were present when Trump spoke to Putin without aides."

We reach the exact day at which Pence can serve out the rest of this term and still be eligible to run for two more full terms in 6 days, on January 20th.

Like I've been saying for some time now, Trump has been an incredibly useful tool for the GOP and the Kremlin — and, once he became a liability, he'd simply be dispatched from office.

My sense is that they're using Trump to demolish Democratic norms, then Pence will be able to exploit the "new normal" without any of the blame. Trump will be the Republicans' scapegoat forever, as they pretend to be restoring democracy while killing it.

* * *

One final note: Every time I write about the fact that Pence could still be elected twice as president if he takes over for Trump starting now, I get pushback along the lines of: "Pence couldn't win a national election."

Folks, neither could Donald Trump without help. And he got it.

No one should imagine that Putin wouldn't also be inclined to help Pence, who was, as a reminder, hand-picked by Paul Manafort.

No one should imagine that the GOP wouldn't pull out all the voter suppression stops to help Pence, who himself co-chaired the president's blue-ribbon commission on nationwide voter suppression efforts.

No one should imagine that the political press wouldn't continue to give a huge assist to Pence, who has not been subjected to even basic scrutiny by the national press despite being perhaps the most powerful veep ever.

All the players that helped Trump become president have the same incentives — and then some — to help Pence. Whether he could fairly win a national election is irrelevant.

Especially if he assumes the presidency by succession and gets two years at the helm before the next election.

The most reliable (and possibly only) solution is removing both Trump and Pence from office swiftly and urgently. And unfortunately I don't see any scenario in which that is likely to happen.

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Quite a Weekend for Russian Puppet Donald Trump

So, a couple of big stories were published over the weekend, with regard to the ongoing problem of the sitting president being a traitorous fuck.

On Friday night, the New York Times dropped an item about the FBI having launched an investigation into the possibility of Trump being a Russian asset after he fired James Comey. As I noted on Twitter: "The only shock is that it wasn't until then that their investigation began."

"It's unprecedented to investigate the president for being the agent of a foreign adversary!"

Yesterday, the Washington Post reported that Trump "has gone to extraordinary lengths to conceal details of his conversations with Russian President Vladi­mir Putin, including on at least one occasion taking possession of the notes of his own interpreter and instructing the linguist not to discuss what had transpired with other administration officials, current and former U.S. officials said."

This has reportedly prompted lawyers for the House Intelligence and Foreign Affairs committees to schedule a meeting today "to evaluate their legal options for subpoenaing the interpreters who were present when Trump spoke to Putin without aides."

We reach the exact day at which Pence can serve out the rest of this term and still be eligible to run for two more full terms in 6 days, on January 20th.

Like I've been saying for some time now, Trump has been an incredibly useful tool for the GOP and the Kremlin — and, once he became a liability, he'd simply be dispatched from office.

My sense is that they're using Trump to demolish Democratic norms, then Pence will be able to exploit the "new normal" without any of the blame. Trump will be the Republicans' scapegoat forever, as they pretend to be restoring democracy while killing it.

* * *

One final note: Every time I write about the fact that Pence could still be elected twice as president if he takes over for Trump starting now, I get pushback along the lines of: "Pence couldn't win a national election."

Folks, neither could Donald Trump without help. And he got it.

No one should imagine that Putin wouldn't also be inclined to help Pence, who was, as a reminder, hand-picked by Paul Manafort.

No one should imagine that the GOP wouldn't pull out all the voter suppression stops to help Pence, who himself co-chaired the president's blue-ribbon commission on nationwide voter suppression efforts.

No one should imagine that the political press wouldn't continue to give a huge assist to Pence, who has not been subjected to even basic scrutiny by the national press despite being perhaps the most powerful veep ever.

All the players that helped Trump become president have the same incentives — and then some — to help Pence. Whether he could fairly win a national election is irrelevant.

Especially if he assumes the presidency by succession and gets two years at the helm before the next election.

The most reliable (and possibly only) solution is removing both Trump and Pence from office swiftly and urgently. And unfortunately I don't see any scenario in which that is likely to happen.

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